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BNI…Any Success?
I went to an open house for a BNI Networking event to attract new members. On paper it sounds good, the “group” refers you to potential clients that they meet in their everyday life and you have 20-30 people out there marketing for you… The downside is that the group seems to consist of bankers/lawyers/real estate/investment companies and pest control, no one really creative except for a printing company.
You can only miss 5 meetings in a year, as a one person company, if I have a project that day, I need to shoot it. You also have to refer a potential client to one person in the group every few months I think, again as a one person company who works from home and doesn’t come across many people during my typical week, I’m not sure I’m in the position to do this. And you also have to get up and do a 60 second presentation every week on a different service you offer…not sure I have 50 topics to speak about. I could be just negative toward the whole thing and not realizing the benefits…so I thought I’d ask here; has anyone had success with BNI or other networking groups?
Jeffrey S. Gould
Action Media Productions -
3 Replies
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“The downside is that the group seems to consist of bankers/lawyers/real estate/investment companies and pest control, no one really creative except for a printing company.”
You nailed it! Don’t waste the time and/or money. There was only one other creative in the group I was invited to, and he was actually from an ad agency I did production work for! Neither one of us got a decent lead in over 6 months… It was a different story for the insurance agents and massage therapists though.
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Ditto!! I was a member of BNI and one other group. With all the rules, fees, etc. the groups weren’t worth it. The groups were also filled with people who wanted something for nothing. Everyone wanted a commercial but only had 200-300 for it. Blah :p
The creative urge is the demon that will not accept anything second rate.
-Agnes DeMille -
Thank you both for confirming my feelings about BNI.
Jeffrey S. Gould
Action Media Productions
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